News in Brief

New captive trajectory will facilitate stores carriage and release tests on Canada's CF-18 fleet

Captive trajectory simulation system

A new captive trajectory simulation system (CTS) is expected to be installed and commissioned in NRC's Trisonic Blowdown Wind Tunnel within a year. Developed in collaboration with Canada's Department of National Defence (DND), it will enable NRC Aerospace to more efficiently carry out stores carriage/release tests for the military and provide a useful flow field-mapping tool for aircraft design. The fully automated system will allow stores to move freely in six degrees-of-freedom when in test, as opposed to the current system, which allows for four degrees-of-freedom, only two of which are automated. Expected position tolerances will be within 0.25 mm for linear displacements and 0.05° for angular displacements. The system will also have sophisticated collision detection and avoidance (CDAA) software to reduce the risk of any adverse movements. 

Proposed AFFORD facilities showing fuel tanks (left foreground) and combustion test cells (yellow doors)

Alternate fuels facility

Over the next three years, NRC Aerospace will build an Alternate Fuel Facility for Research and Development (AFFORD) to help companies develop technologies for a wide range of alternate fuels – including ethanol, biodiesel, syngas/hydrogen-enriched fuels and coal liquefaction – then take them to market. The facility will allow NRC staff to research, validate, and improve these technologies for use in aviation engines and industrial gas turbine combustion systems. Several companies have already expressed interest, including Pratt & Whitney Canada, Rolls Royce Canada Industrial Gas Turbines, GE Energy, and a variety of smaller energy-related companies.

AFFORD will add two new combustion test cells to NRC Aerospace's existing test facility, plus storage and supply systems for nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon monoxide, a newly recommissioned altitude test facility and a research-scale hydrogen combustion facility. Burners will be installed to treat exhaust gases to ensure they are as clean as possible when released into the environment.

NRC Aerospace is also spearheading a national, multi-university initiative to develop computational fluid dynamics capabilities that can deal with the new combustion processes.

Firefighters putting out a small fire following demolition test on decommissioned B727 airframe

Fast fracture test

In May 2007, NRC Aerospace successfully completed a three-day controlled exercise, the first of its kind in Canada, involving the deliberate "demolition" of a decommissioned, pressurized Boeing 727. The blast, which was achieved by detonating a bomb hidden in a laptop computer concealed in the aircraft's luggage-filled cargo bay, generated unique post-blast fractured aircraft structures that will help researchers learn more about fractures caused by explosions, knowledge that could help in future accident investigations.

The fast fracture test also simulated a high-risk security environment to test the expertise and capabilities of participating first-response groups, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's Department of National Defence and the Ottawa Police Service – as well as the Ottawa Airport Fire Department and Ottawa Fire Services, which carried out a full response operation to extinguish the subsequent fire. It furthermore provided an opportunity for eight Canadian companies specializing in security technologies to demonstrate their latest security technologies and explore how their products could be integrated to further reduce the chance of an emergency situation and to arm responders with effective tools.